Archive for the ‘Tiling’ Category
Career Switch Boosts Electrical and Plumbing Training
As the recession lingers on and more job cuts are announced in areas such as in financial services because they can be done at one-tenth the cost on the other side of the world, the construction trade continues to hold firm. UK housebuilder, Persimmon has just this week announced an improvement in trading, with sales up by 7% so far this year.
The work of a plumber, electrician or gas fitter has a clearly defined purpose which always requires their physical presence to actually carry out the installation, repair or maintenance. Practical skills cannot be electronically farmed out overseas even though the onward march of technology has enabled an ever widening array of services to become possible to accomplish over the internet!
Trade skills personnel are hands-on and in control of the entire process from start to finish!
For many in certain types of employment, instead of controlling an entire process, they are trained to do ever tinier slivers of work, which then become part of a much larger process. To be able to make your small contribution, you are required by employers to become a member of a team and if you lose your place in the process or the team, your existence is meaningless unless part of the whole.
In stark contrast, training to be an electrician, for example, means you learn to be self sufficient, and entirely reliant on your own training, experience and skill to analyse and solve a problem. An electrician or a plumber are always in demand, in person!
Even in the current economic climate, a recently conducted survey by Manpower Recruitment of employers around the world found that there was still a lack of skilled manual trades such as electricians, plumbers bricklayers, carpenters, tilers…etc.
In addition, job satisfaction and personal fulfilment always rank high with the construction trade industries. It is work with a discernible product or result that can be actually measured and see working in the real world!
AbleSkills Progressive Training With Integrity!
Training to enter the Construction industry as the UK slowly strives to move out of recession is still a safe a solid career move! Estimated worth is in excess of £ 110 billion and employs 1 .5 million! The industry involves a wide range of high technical key skills such as electrical and plumbing to bricklaying, plastering, tiling, carpentry and joinery.
Good quality trade companies and employers always look to recruit fully trained and competent personnel with recognised qualifications who are prepared to honour codes of responsible, professional standards.
Compliance with laws, regulations, standards and codes to safeguard the environment, public health and safety, combined with the desire to constantly broaden, improve and maintain skills, knowledge and personal qualities are the distinguishing traits of both work and service excellence.
Personal qualities of integrity and workmanship are acquired as part of learning your trade in a corresponding professional training environment. Experienced and expert tutors will naturally transfer their own standards of required adherence to quality standards of workmanship, which hold good for your entire working life, not just for passing course assessments to obtain qualifications!
Most trades currently require an NVQ at Level 2 or 3 to be classed as qualified. For those wishing to become an electrician, the City & Guilds 2330 Level 2 is the recognised entry point and for those looking to become a plumber, then the City & Guilds Plumbing 6129 Technical Certificate is the course to commence the necessary foundation knowledge.
An NVQ knowledge training takes time to achieve, using a combination of off-the-job training with a training provider and working with an employer in the sector. Remember - ‘quickie’ courses aimed at the DIY market may be useful for background or the most basic skills, but hardly prepare someone to become a skilled trades person.
At AbleSkills, an extensive trade knowledge learning path has been developed as a structured series of courses, which can be followed to naturally take an entry level student right through all the necessary training and qualifications to be ready to enter the industry at a very high level.
This can favourably put an AbleSkills graduate, who has undertaken and qualified at each step of the related course ladder, at an advantage in the employment application process.
Employers look for at least basic practical skills and essential knowledge gained from a respected City & Guilds qualification or foundation award so that they can at least put the apprentice to work alongside more experienced and qualified people. In addition, they will encourage beginners to further their knowledge and work towards an NVQ.
As an AbleSkills ‘graduate’ you will, have already attained the necessary training qualifications to impress at interview and parachute you into your chosen job destination!
First Enquiry With A Trade Skills Trainer Gives First Clue!
Finding a quality approved and accredited trade skills trainer can be a bit of minefield as there are now so many organisations offering a confusing number of courses. Which course is best for you and are you going to get the correct training and qualifications to really allow you to make real progress in your career path?
The key is always to do your homework! By spending time carrying out prior research you will be armed with the right knowledge in order to make a sensible decision. Visit their website first and really look carefully at all the pages and ask yourself the really important questions as you look through, e.g. how long have they been in existence, are they really approved for the right type of courses, how many experienced, trained and qualified teachers and verifiers on the staff?
It should go without saying that you should not be dazzled by cut price, bargain basement course selling, which claims to offer instant industry working status. Remember - experience and expertise takes time to build, and is not achieved in a matter of days or weeks.
Most importantly, and dependent on the individual course level, where exactly will you be training – at their premises or elsewhere?
If you are serious about entering a trade profession, then the likelihood is that you should already have found out that to begin a career as an electrician, you are required to undertake a series of courses that will take you through a structure of required knowledge learning and skillsets, beginning with the City & Guilds 2330 level 2.
Likewise, plumbing training requires a body of knowledge and practical training to be fully understood and practiced as you progress through several levels, but once again, you will need to start with City & Guilds Plumbing 6129 level 2.
Be aware that short centre certificate courses are mostly primers, and aimed for DIY or one set skill learning, giving you insight into the requirements to carry out the basic task the course claims to provide. It does not instantly transform you into a fully fledged tradesperson in that field!
An established and recognised training centre will also offer short, advanced courses for the experienced trade, such as electricians, plumbers, gas fitters, tilers, plasterers, bricklayers and builders to learn specific skills and update their knowledge, which can be added to their range of customer services.
First enquiry will give you a first clue! Listen to the their telephone style. Friendly, yes, but do they sound knowledgeable and can explain in detail about the course you have in mind? Are they approved by City & Guilds and the major trade body examiners and verifiers, most importantly in electrical and plumbing? Do they offer you the opportunity to visit their centre so they can spend time showing you around?
Find out just comprehensive their courses are, availability and if subscribed? What course teaching aids are available and are you offered flexibility with regards when you can train, how long it will take and are there staggered schedules for some types of courses?
There are sure to be other questions you will need to ask with regards your own specific requirements and once again, focus on how keen the response and desire to genuinely help. The next important step will be the visit to the training centre itself!
Tiling Full Time Whilst Waiting For House Prices To Improve!
Housing prices are slowly recovering and Britain pulls out of recession. The signs are good for the construction industry and reassures all those learning trade skills or looking to begin training, that future work prospects are much improved now with many Government and private development schemes around the country being recently announced.
But recovery will take time and many homeowners will choose to wait and spend money on refurbishments to help maintain both the look and value of their properties until the price of general housing stock significantly shows better figures.
This means more work for skilled tradesmen, especially in those larger home improvements that enthusiastic DIY’ers might not attempt, although there will always be someone you know who would have attempted tiling their own bathroom or kitchen – it has become, like running a mile for charity - almost the universal ‘must have a go’ challenge!
Yet as soon as they start to lay out the tiles, they realise they have not really understood those little ‘how-to’ tips and that’s when unforeseen problems start to rear their head and another DIY disaster looms!
For many reading this who have a solid background in related practical trades or whose work patterns have been seriously affected by industry cutbacks, career switching and retraining represents an attractive option. To embark by gaining a City & Guilds NVQ Tiling qualification in a relatively straightforward skills retrain can make sound sense. Courses are devised to cater for all types of time schedule requirements, so you may decide to set aside say two consecutive weekend tiling training sessions that condenses an entire course of weekdays into one.
Also available are three week full NVQ fulltime courses which are strongly advised for obtaining a complete understanding and practical skillsets for most tiling jobs required in both domestic and commercial applications. This will invariably cover such basic skills as correct spacing, lining up the patterning or working neatly over or around a corner, step, or column, applying a screed and surface preparation before beginning the tiling itself.
More specialised courses are on offer to know how to work with expensive natural products like Granite, Marble, Limestone and Slate, which are increasingly popular.
Within a short space of time, you can be fully trained and qualified to approved competency in order to go out, get some valuable experience under the belt and help those homeowners to retile their bathrooms, shower units or kitchens whilst they wait for better house prices to come.
AbleSkills training – flexible choice of courses to suit you!
If you’ve made your mind up and are ready to train for a brand new career as an electrician or plumber, the likelihood is that you have already worked out your available time schedules. Now all you have to do is find a training centre that offers you the right course over a period of time that suits your needs!
There may not be a training centre nearest to you that is able to offer different training length options for your chosen course. More importantly, they may not be approved to run recognised professional entry level industry courses - like Electrical NVQ 2330 level 2 and level 3 and Plumbing NVQ 6129, also levels 2 and 3. It is now essential that these courses must be fully accredited by the statutory bodies like City & Guilds, Building Engineering Services, EAL,IPHE, CAA, NICEIC and ISO and Gas Safe registered. AbleSkills is firmly established and one of the foremost recognised and approved training centres for City & Guild accredited course in South East England.
Whatever your circumstances, from long experience as a training provider, AbleSkills will most likely have already an ideal training schedule for the course you wish to take that will fit your specific needs. Even if are currently working full-time and can only spare the weekends to train or are about to go part time and wish to train on the days you will not be working. It may even be that you have a set period of time off due to you and you would like to train then.
Whether you are looking for a key electrical or plumbing courses, there are many flexible training options from weekend courses, to full time courses over a different number of weeks depending on whether you wish to train over periods from say, 2 days, 5 days, 10 days to 2 weeks or 20 weeks, and even options to take a break and split your training periods ! Similarly, our other construction trade course like tiling and bricklaying are also flexible.
For all those who are still considering the best training route, AbleSkills also offers a number of certificated introductory courses that cover set skills for DIY, home improvement as well as introductory electrical/gas and plumbing training. Most of these course last just two days or over the weekend, so are a great way to test your practical abilities.
For many students, once achieving an NVQ level 2, they will almost certainly want to progress to level 3 and onto associated skills, e.g. plumbing on to gas training, Able Skills will help you to assess and advise on your best options, timewise. Similarly, for those already in one of the trade skill industries and who wish to upgrade their knowledge on the latest requirements or undertake a learn a further skill then the same flexible options are still available to you.
This especially applies to the developing green energy courses AbleSkills offer. With an eye on future green technologies and employment, training on a solar course (PV) or air/ground source heating should be seriously considered as they increasingly form an important part of key trade skills knowledge.
It’s vitally important that you get good advice first. Always call and to ask to come down and take a look at what is being offered, which will best serve your requirements. AbleSkills will give you the time of day and speak with you! Not only that, they will invite you to come down and have a look around their extensive training centre. With expert advice and your questions answered, you’re bound to find the right course get you started in your new career!
Credit-Based QCF 2357 Replaces NVQs in 2010.
City Guilds NVQs are about to be transformed with the introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) in September 2010. The good news for all those thinking of enrolling on a City & Guilds course is that the new system will not fundamentally alter the level of knowledge and training requirements, as they are intended to greatly improve learning capability by making the course units easier to understand, more flexible and allow for interchangeable – or ‘combination’- skillsets.
The relevant qualification relating to trade skill training is QCF 2357, which will directly replace the current NVQs for Technical Certificate in Electrotechnical Technology (2330) and Electrotechnical Services (2356) qualification. In addition, a new QCF plumbing qualification will replace the Technical Certificate in Plumbing Studies Level 2 (6129).
Under the new system, a ‘credit value’ which measures the estimated number of hours it takes the average learner to complete all the learning outcomes and ‘difficulty’ level assigned to every unit. The values will be used in a set rule of ‘combination’. This means some units will appear in more than one qualification and the credit can be transferred between qualifications, as long as it forms part of the ‘rules of combination’. This will allow for more flexible career pathways, with reduced repetition, as learners can build on previously ‘banked’ credit as they move through sizes and levels.
The new qualifications will not affect the ability of AbleSkills to take you through a structured course development, in order to train you through the required levels to be fully ready and industry compliant within your chosen occupation.
You will still be able to commence at entry level and train through to obtain the necessary qualifications - and this also applies if you are in a mid career change. As in the current NVQ system, both the Plumbing and Electrical QCF 2357 , which would be available at levels 2 and 3, will require the undertaking of a series of knowledge units, progressing onto practical units and a final competency assessment would need to be successfully achieved before a qualification certificate is issued.
At AbleSkills, training courses will still enable any student to progress from ‘domestic-through-to-commercial’ in the key trade skills of electrical, plumbing, gas installation, tiling or associated building trades, such as bricklaying or plastering.
AbleSkills Training - Moving Forward in 2010!
Despite slow progress by the UK to climb out of recession, AbleSkills has been pushing steadily forward with the continual development of their technical facilities in order to provide the best possible standard of industry training to their course students.
In response to the growing demand throughout 2008-2009, brand new workshops and teaching facilities, individually dedicated to both electrical and plumbing technical training, were rolled out across the AbleSkills campus, allowing for the obvious increasing student intake over recent years.
In addition, preparations are being made for the changes on the way which will be seeing the transformation of the City & Guilds Electrical 2330 NVQ, the Electrical 2356 NVQ plus the Plumbing 6129 NVQ to a single qualification. This to be called the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF 2357).
The changes are not due to come into operation until late in 2010 and will not fundamentally alter the level of knowledge and training requirements, as they are intended to greatly improve learning capability by making the course units easier to understand, more flexible and allow for interchangeable skillsets.
In addition, the new qualifications will also not affect the ability of AbleSkills to take you through a structured course development, in order to train you through the required levels to be fully ready and industry compliant within your chosen occupation.
You will still be able to commence at entry level and train through to obtain the necessary qualifications - and this also applies if you are in a mid career change. Your choice of training can be structured to learn ‘domestic-through-to-commercial’ electrical, plumbing, gas installation, tiling or associated building trades.
As before, training schedules are customised to be flexible to accommodate all types of availability, offering all time periods and durations from weekends, to short two day or five day courses through to three, six week training and more.
In addition, Able Skills offers the opportunity for those candidates interested to take the Plumbing 6129 NVQ, to study the Plumbing Theory at home, in their own time and own pace. Students can make their own decision as to when they feel ready to be assessed on each learning unit, before moving onto the practical hands-on workshop training.
Renewable -or - Green Energy, is going to play an increasingly vital and urgent role in trade skills training and both plumbers, electricians and gas installers will need to thoroughly understand their role in being a source of information – energy assessment – and working with the new technologies, such as Solar PV systems, air source or ground source heat pumps.
AbleSkills will be supporting the Government ‘green’ initiatives and financial incentives for domestic householders in its ongoing programme of dedicated ‘green energy’ training space development in 2010.
This means that all serious students who are seeking to enter the industry - either at entry level, mid career – or those currently in the industry who wish to update their present skills, can rest assured they will be receiving the best of the latest knowledge, training and expertise available anywhere in the UK.
Looking further forward to 2012 - much feverish national building and recruitment programmes are already underway. As an approved City & Guild Training Centre, Able Skills is undoubtedly, the premier industry trainer for London and The South East, and will continue to uphold their long standing tradition for serving the industry with the highest quality of trade skills training, for many decades to come.
We look forward to hearing from all our loyal and regular readers once again in 2010!
What To Do When Returning To A Flooded Home
Once again, torrential weather and severe flooding is in the news with many homes subject to catastrophic water damage. Returning home to deal with the big clear up still has many hidden dangers that have to be thought out before entering the house. Think logically through a check list that draws on both some basic common sense plumbing and electrical procedures.
Check the house exterior by doing a visual walk around of your home to see if there are any downed power lines, or electrical connections that may be in contact with the water. Smell for any gas in the air as often there may be a gas leak and if you find either of these problems, call the correct utility company. If water is still around the house, check to see if the outside walls have cracked or giving way because of the water pressure being exerted on them. If there’s water still around, don’t enter the home, There’s always a chance that the walls could give way and the house could collapse around you. Be cautious around porches and overhangs. These areas may have weakened during a flood and could give way or collapse.
Disconnect the electrical and gas supplies to lessen the chance of fire, explosion or electrocution. Even if the power is out or the power supply has been disconnected from the power pole by the utility company, your electrical fuse or breaker panel’s main fuse or breaker may still be on. In this case, at any time during the day, the utility company could come back and turn the power on to your home. You may not be aware that they’ve turned the power back on and your panel is now live, subjecting you to potential shock hazards.
If the only way to disconnect the gas and power is inside the home and there’s water where you have to shut them off, don’t enter the home to do so until you can safely enter the home and the water has been removed.
Before you enter a home that has been flooded, be sure to have the proper clothing, footwear, and safety items that may be needed.
Boots : wear waterproof rubber boots or waders with hard soles. If you’re walking in muddy, water-coated floors and basements, there are likely sharp objects that you could step on.
Dust Mask : wear a mask over your mouth and nose to protect your lungs from pollutants and disease.
Gloves: wear preferably rubber gloves to handle anything in flooded areas. Materials may be a health hazard due to sewage, chemicals, and oil in the water.
Hard Hats and Protective Clothing: Loose and crumbling ceilings, falling debris, and trapped water are potential hazards to your head and body when entering a flooded home.
You are will need a First Aid Kit, Flashlight, A Dry Wooden stick ( to turn off electrical breakers, unplug cords) and cleaning supplies.
After flood waters have receded and there’s no water pressure on the walls, you can slowly pump the water, being careful not to pump it out too fast. Remember, the ground is still saturated with water and removing the internal resistant pressure on the walls may cause them to give way. Lower the water level over a period of a few days, reducing it a few feet at a time. With the power off, carefully spray the house down with water to remove a majority of the mud and muck from your home. Use disinfectant cleaners to wash walls and floors down.
Sump pump pits often fill up with mud and debris and must be cleaned up from time to time, especially following a flood.
It is important to open up the bottom of flooded walls and remove all wet material from them. Turn on fans and dehumidifiers as soon as possible to dry the home. Deadly mold can form quickly in warm and moist areas in the home. Get wet carpeting and padding out of the home as soon as possible. Get garbage, effected clothing, etc. out of the home and clear the floor space in rooms and closets. Open the windows to let the house breath. By getting the home dried out quickly, you’ll be on your way to cleaning and repairing it.
By using a pump sprayer and bleach water, you can effectively clean your home and make it sterile. The recommended mixture of water to bleach is ten to one. The water will soak into the wood and any mould will come out to the surface of the wood to be killed by the bleach.
How Do You Know If A Skills Training Centre Is Any Good?
Skills training centres seem to be popping up everywhere these days! Government encouragement of training initiatives for huge construction programmes like the 2012 Olympics - have been a catalyst for new building training centres appearing around the country. Five minutes on the internet and you can come up with a long list of training providers, all appearing to offer the same courses in obtaining trade skill qualifications, i.e. plumbing, electrical, gas, carpentry, etc.
But judging by the feedback on trade forums, the experience for many applicants has been negative and accusations of ‘ripoff’ fly around with alarming frequency!
So how do you work out the industry’s genuine, high quality training providers from the rest?
You have to do your homework! You must be prepared to spend time to conduct research by first finding out all about the course/s you wish to take then ask the right questions and see what answers you get! Ask if you can go and take look at the training facilities and speak with as many people as possible, including the tutors and especially the students currently on the course – find out directly what their experience has been!
The very first thing you can do is check their website!
- Many offer their own certificated diplomas but do they run approved City & Guilds NVQ qualification training as well?
- Check for accreditation from recognised national trade bodies in the relevant skills sectors.
- Are the site pics genuine, or are they poor quality, low res and look as though they have been taken from elsewhere?
- Generally, is the website trying to be open and transparent, offering as much information as possible about each course?
- How many training staff and are their pics and biographies available to check for approved training status?
- Do they have a feedback forum, and blog ? When was the last posting?
- How up-to-date is all the content? Does the site look regularly attended?
In other words, do you think they have proper training facilities?
You must give them a telephone call to fully satisfy yourself with regards the following:
• How long have they been around ? How do they reply to this and how much information do they tell you and how are their claims backed up?
• Is there dedicated space and equipment for each of the training subjects?
• Do the training staff possess genuine approved, recognised and accredited qualifications and credentials ? Have they substantial industry working experience ? Both the training provider as a company and all of its instructors and trainers must be fully certificated from established regulated bodies.
• How open and flexible do they appear to be ? Can you train both at home and at their premises? Is there an extensive choice of options that allow you to study and train in your own time and at your own pace? In addition to tuition, what other training aids do you get, to help with thoroughly understanding what needs to be learnt ?
• Can they offer you proper career progression through a schedule of approved City & Guilds training programmes?
• Are there Green Energy training courses in the new renewable technologies?
Even if you are just seeking to take a course, say in kitchen fitting, you need to know that the quality of training will be identical. The key is the final authorised assessments and examinations that are set in place for you to be sure you are properly trained to confidently do the work. You must ask if they are a fully accredited NVQ Assessment centre with approval to deliver qualification training from the City & Guilds, Construction Awards Alliance.
At the end of the day - you need to know what you are getting for the money? And can you be provided with options for a flexible payment plan ? Can they offer funding to help pay for the courses?
Choosing the right sealant for the job!
Different materials often require different sealants, and there are now, numerous types available. Some of the most common types of sealants on the market include those for decks, concrete, tile grout, and walls. So how do you choose the right one for your particular job?
Below is a checklist of questions to be asked :
• Type of material it will adhere to?
• Size of gap it will fill?
• Degree of mould resistance?
• How waterproof is it?
• Can it be overpainted, or not ?
• Can it be used indoors and/or out of doors?
• Is it solvent based or does it give off fumes when curing ?
• What it is like when it is cured, i.e. solid, flexible or very flexible?
As you can see, not quite so straightforward as you first thought! If you are thinking of doing the job yourself to save money during the recession, then it’s recommended you take a short course in tiling or DIY at an approved training centre, like here at AbleSkills. It is money well spent! By getting the right information and tuition from experienced industry professionals, you get to really find out how to do the job properly. You get to be hands-on, and that means really learning from your mistakes so you will know exactly what to do when you start on your own job! Why not try if you can get onto a weekend course –they’re very popular!
Water based sealants - of which some are also waterproof - are general purpose, for indoor use. They are commonly used for filling gaps along skirting boards, around door and window frames etc. They are usually supplied in white as it can be over painted with emulsion or solvent-based paint as soon as the surface has cured.
Silicone sealants - produce a waterproof seal that can be used indoors and out. Available in white, translucence and possibly a choice of colours. These sealants give off a distinctive smell until it cures.
Kitchen and Bathroom sealant- Usually designed to seal areas where water seepage is likely (around a sink or bath etc). They need to be waterproof and mould resistant. Usually available in white.
Grout sealant- specifically designed for protecting the grout from stains and mildew, they usually are known for keeping the grout looking new and attractive
Frame sealant- for external use, silicone sealant is used as a water-resistant sealant and joint filler, formulated specifically to seal between wooden or UPVC door and window frames to the surrounding material. Silicone cannot be over painted but is available in a number of colours. For internal frame sealant, water based sealant can be used and it can be over painted once the surface of the sealant has cured.
Roof and Gutter sealant - An all-purpose exterior sealant that can be used to seal leaking joints in guttering and downpipes as well as stopping leaks in flat roofs. Generally it is only available in black.
Deck sealant - typically is best for exterior wood. Not only do deck sealants typically protect the wood from water damage such as mildew, but they should also guard it from sun damage. A penetrating deck sealant is absorbed into the material, while a film-forming sealant creates a barrier around the wood.
Concrete sealants - petroleum or water-based, they are similar to those intended for decks, but they work best on concrete .Protects from extreme weather, and can guard from salt, chemicals, and stains. Can be clear or coloured.
Polyurethane sealant – used for covering tiny cracks in a wall and usually the consistency of putty, it is known for expanding quickly after application. Fortunately, it is also both flexible and elastic, and can protect walls from water damage.
When using a sealant, always make sure that the surface is sound, dust free, and dry, the sealant is ’squeezed’ onto the surfaces and it often depends on gentle surface contact to create a bond. It is also advised that sealants be applied in an inconspicuous test spot first to avoid accidental staining of the area.
